BULLETIN The Canadian Catholic Historical Association

Fall 2010 ISSN 1182-9214 Vol. XXIV, Number 2

The Value of Oral History for Religious CCHA Annual Conference 2010 Communities was discussed by a panel. Elizabeth Concordia University McGahan of the University of New Brunswick, Montreal Saint John introduced the panelists, Terence Fay SJ, Nichole Vonk, and Gwyn Griffith. Terence Fay of the University of St Michael’s College explained that contemporary scholars reveal little interest in The conference of the Canadian Catholic religious history and thus sources for religious Historical Association commenced at 9 AM on historians are in short supply. The motivation of Monday, 31 May at Concordia University as the new Canadians is very important for Canadian President Peter Meehan welcomed participants history, and historians must seek out their own to the conference and Terence Fay SJ asked God’s blessing for a productive conference.

The first session on Culture, Region, and Religion was introduced by Margaret Sanche of St Thomas More College. Anne Gagnon from Thompson Rivers University illustrated how the creation of personal names is so important for families and reveals much about their religious customs, secular mores, and family traditions. Patricia Roy from University of Victoria explained the ambiguous relationship between Anglicans and East Asians in from 1858 to 1949. While Anglicans advocated the acceptance of East Asians into Canadian society, at the same time Elizabeth McGahan introduced the panel of Terence Fay they believed in the Anglo-Celtic guidance of their SJ, Nichole Vonk, and Gwyn Griffith. integration. Peter Meehan of Seneca College reflected on the ecclesial career of the bright 37- data. United Church Archivist Nichole Vonk year old bishop of Saskatoon, Philip Pocock, who outlined the methodology of interviews with as a newly minted hierarch had to cope with the church congregants to build a data base of proposal of the CCF for social medicine in the volunteer women and men who have attended province. It was his responsibility to negotiate the and served the church over a long period. The continued existence of Catholic hospitals in the technology is now available to produce these face of this new provincial legislation. records. Gwyn Griffith of the Centre for Christian Studies related the significance of qualitative history for religious historians. To retell stories is 2 Fall 2010 ISSN 1182-9214 Vol. XXIV, Number 2 to help the participants and auditors understand The conference reconvened on Tuesday these experiences better, and then, the stories morning, 1 June at 9 AM. Mark McGowan of the have to corrected, edited, and written for University of St Michael’s College introduced the historical accuracy. well-known Catholic theologian, Gregory Baum who is professor emeritus from USMC in Brian Hogan introduced the third session and McGill University in Montreal. Baum spoke on on Writing, Serving, and Negotiating in a the Vatican II promises which had been so Religious Context. An exploration into seventeen hopeful which since then have been obscured by century religious mysticism was conducted by subsequent ecclesial retrenchment. Coleen Gray of McGill University. She explored the writings of Marie Barbier of the Congregation of Notre Dame which related the sister’s mystical awakening to the goodness of God in her love songs, the dark night of the soul, her breast cancer and its subsequent cure. Christine Lei of Wilfred Laurier University explored the Women’s Auxiliary in the activities of the Sisters of Social Service in Montreal from 1937 to 1974. The sisters ran a friendship house in Montreal which gave assistance to the Hungarian community. Communists tried to move on these newcomers and the friendship house was closed. Gabriela Kasprzak of the University of Toronto related how Distinguished scholar Gregory Baum delivers a talk on The the clergy had good credibility for working with Unfilled Promised of Vatican Two. the Polish community and were very effective. As well educated spokesmen for the Polish Father Edward Jackman OP led a community, they were concerned with the rise of noontime historical tour on the Metro to the Socialism. At a later date, Polish consuls arrived Jesuit of the Gesù and to St Patrick Basilica and tried to co-opt the good will which the clergy (the Irish “cathedral” in Montreal). had earned in the Polish community. The final session on Stories and Miracles in The Annual Social and Dinner of the CCHA a joint meeting with the CHA was moderated by was held in the evening at the Irish Embassy Elizabeth Smyth. Allan Green of McGill University Restaurant near the university. On this occasion, expatiated on the teenage runaway, Pierre President-General Heidi MacDonald presented to Chaumonot, who became a Jesuit and Elizabeth Smyth the George Edward Clerk Award, volunteered for the Canadian mission. It was a the highest award of the CCHA for the writing, rags to riches story of a dishonest youth who after teaching, and dissemination of Canadian Catholic conversion gave himself to the service of the history and for service in the CCHA. Elizabeth Canadian mission. Jacalyn Duggin of Queen’s Smyth teaches at OISE/UT, has published University examined Canadian miracles over four numerous volumes on Catholic religious history, hundred years as recorded for the Vatican and has served on the Executive for many years. Archives in Rome. Although a non-believer, she found the recording of these miracles for the canonization protocol of the Holy See well prepared and scientifically sound. 3 Fall 2010 ISSN 1182-9214 Vol. XXIV, Number 2

The Conference concluded with the Annual General Meeting. The new CCHA officers were Notices announced: President Jacqueline Gresko, Vice- President Edward MacDonald, and Secretary Robert Dennis. The Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada has erected in May 2010 a plaque commemorating the national Historic significance of the founding of the Sisters of Charity of St Vincent De Paul in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Professor Heidi MacDonald who attended the unveiling ceremony recounted how the sisters set up a home for orphaned children in 1856 and ten years later volunteered to nurse cholera victims quarantined on McNabs Island in Halifax harbour. During these years the sisters became involved in five hospitals, one hundred elementary and high schools, and the establishment of Mount Saint Vincent University.

The CCHA Executive, 2010-2012: Pres.-Gen. Peter Meehan, Peter McGuigan has two books underway, the V-P Edward MacDonald, President Jacqueline Gresko, first on Bishop J. T. McNally and St Mary’s Secretary Robert Dennis; Edward Jackman OP, Terence Fay SJ, and Editors Indre Cuplinskas and Elizabeth McGahan. University and the second on The South Street Poor House: A Century of Despair. He also edits a The Joint Conference of the CCHA and the monthly newsletter, Joe Howe News, a critique of ACHA was scheduled for next 14-16 April 2011 at social housing. the University of St Michael’s College at the th University of Toronto. Papers and sessions from Paul Laverdure has published the 30 Issue of members of both associations should be sent to Redemptorist North American Historical Bulletin in Professor Terence Fay, [email protected]. which an account of the lost manuscript of the The Sutton Place Hotel nearby the university has founder of the congregation, Alphonsus, is offered discount rates to members and the recorded and in the 31st in which the 2010 accession code for participants is TO110414J0. Redemptorist History Conference program is The next CCHA Annual Conference will be held at included. the University of New Brunswick at Fredericton at the end of May 2011, and Elizabeth McGahan Mark McGown received the Undergraduate will be the local representative. The registration Teaching Award from the University of Toronto fee for the annual conference was set at $20 and Student Union on 6 May 2010. the annual dinner at $50 in line with the rise in the cost of living. 4 Fall 2010 ISSN 1182-9214 Vol. XXIV, Number 2

hierarchy, Power outlines their important role in Book Review assuring the deacons’ future embrace across the nation. Entering their most activist phase during the latter 1960s, and enabled by the perfect Servants of All: A History of the Permanent storm caused by their release of the “Winnipeg Diaconate in the Archdiocese of Toronto, Statement” in 1969, the bishops’ early 1972-2007. Michael Power. Toronto: Novalis deliberations over establishing a permanent Publishing Inc., 2010. Pp. 256, Index, $24.95. diaconate for Canada flew below the radar of Catholic attention. This allowed them, assisted by Forty years after the establishment of the their periti, to construct a diaconal framework permanent diaconate in the archdiocese of that was unencumbered by many of the Toronto seems a perfect time to reflect on its challenges they faced while shepherding the history and its contributions, and I can think of no decrees of the Council in their home dioceses. better person for this task than Michael Power. He is a superb stylist, and he lays out his account Moving to the centre-point of his concern, in a clear and a lively narrative that pays particular Power follows the evolution of the permanent attention to the theological and organizational diaconate to its final realization in the archdiocese underpinning of the restored diaconate of Toronto. Critical here was the role of Philip internationally, nationally and locally. The result Pocock, Toronto’s seventh archbishop. A man of highlights the meticulous thought and ongoing temperate disposition, Pocock had established attention given to the deacons as they became himself as a leader in the lay retreat movement critical to the ministerial life of Canada’s largest and as a proponent of the theology of the “lay English-speaking archdiocese. priesthood” in the 1930s. As coadjutor to the ailing James Cardinal McGuigan during the 1960s, Eschewing conventional thinking that he followed the discussions on the diaconate at would presume the deacons to be only an the Council with great interest from his sub- outgrowth of post-Vatican II aggiornamento, committee work on the Council’s Commission for Power sets his story years earlier. A formidable Lay Associations. In this light, it is logical to collection of priests interred at Dachau during the assume Pocock would have been immediately Second World War provided for a spontaneous attracted to Paul VI’s 1967 motu proprio, Sacrum Catholic think-tank, focused on finding new ways Diaconatus Ordinem, which described the deacon of renewing the Church. Expanded discussion in as an “animator” of lay activities. The subsequent French post-War “diaconal circles” concluded on “demotion” of this understanding in the last days the diaconate’s potential to revitalize the Church’s of Pocock’s tenure, to serving the marginalized, missionary apostolate. From here, grounded in would have served for him as a major the documents of the early Church, including the disappointment. Power is clear on the contrast in Acts of the Apostles and the Didache, a range of approaches to the diaconate under Pocock’s advocates steered its cause, last seriously successor, Emmett Carter. No less supportive of engaged at the Council of Trent, towards the the deacons than Pocock, the more taciturn Council. Championed by luminaries such as Karl Carter was determined that they not be perceived Rahner SJ, the Council Fathers concluded of the as replacement priests in a time of declining diaconate in Lumen Gentium #29 as having the vocations, shifting their emphasis to specific potential to be"… restored as a proper and permanent ministries or to roles as “bishop’s men” who could rank of the hierarchy.” labour in the various areas of need in the Turning his attention next to the Canadian 5 Fall 2010 ISSN 1182-9214 Vol. XXIV, Number 2 archdiocese. creative , gently leads the reader to the As with any work of this scope, there are conclusion, without ever directly saying so, that some small errata. The national bishops only Providence could have made this gift to the conference for Canada was known as the Church possible at the very moment in history in Canadian Catholic Conference through most of which it was most needed. the period referred to here, not the CCCB, and the misspelling of the Shepherd of Hermas, a key Peter Meehan post-Apostolic writing, as the “Shepherd of Chair, School of Liberal Arts, Seneca @ York Hermes” is an innocent, even humourous oversight. On another level, however, I do Current Publications question some of the book’s omissions. The by Fred J. McEvoy movement to create deaconesses in the Canadian Church gets only a fleeting reference, yet Cardinal Flahiff’s controversial intervention on behalf of women’s ministries at the 1971 Synod of Bishops leads me to believe that there may Grouard, Émile, OMI. The Beginning of Print have been more to this story. Also, despite the Culture in Athabasca Country: A Facsimile author’s careful research, including a trove of Edition & Translation of a Prayer Book in Cree documentary sources and interviews, his focus on Syllables by Father Émile Grouard, OMI, the theological and practical organization of the Prepared and Printed at Lac La Biche in 1883 with an introduction by Patricia Demers diaconate from “outside-in” is offered at the Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, 2010. Pp. expense of a more nuanced account of their social 457. history. We are left, for example, with very little information on the deacons’ lived ministerial Kehoe, S. Karly “Catholic Identity in the Diaspora: experiences, or of their historical agency during a Nineteenth-century ,” in Tanja Bueltmann, critical period of transition for the Church in Andrew Hinson and Graeme Morton, eds. Ties of Toronto. There is also little future speculation as bluid, kin and countrie: Scottish Associational to their roles in an age facing the challenges Culture in the Diaspora Guelph: Centre for posed by a rapidly aging priesthood and an Scottish Studies, 2009, 83-100. insufficient number of new vocations. These small, personal observations do not Power, Michael. Servants of All: A History of the stand in the way of my general assessment of Permanent Diaconate in the Archdiocese of Servants of All as a very timely, and a very Toronto 1972-2007 Toronto: Novalis, 2010. Pp. important book. In his preface, John O’Mara, 256 . Bishop Emeritus of the Diocese of St Catherine’s, and an early leader in the movement to establish Simmons, Geoffrey. “Order and Light: The the permanent diaconate in Toronto, credits Architecture of Two Benedictine Abbey Churches Power with bringing to life the story of how “grace in Canada - Westminster Abbey, Mission, British became a reality.” This perfectly succinct Columbia, and St Peter’s Abbey, Muenster, assessment touches on the most important Saskatchewan,” American Benedictine Review 60, contribution of this book. Creatively tracing the no. 1 (2009): 44-61. circuitous route bringing the deacons from their role in the early Church through to their new place in post-Counciliar Toronto, Power’s subtle, 6 Fall 2010 ISSN 1182-9214 Vol. XXIV, Number 2

post-war community life were being discussed; the 1960s Vatican II conclave from which changes Thiffault, Pierre “Father Thibeault’s Forgotten Air to community life began to emerge, and the Service,” Journal of the Canadian Aviation tumultuous post Vatican II decades from the late Historical Society 46, no. 1(2008): 26-33. 1960s to the late 1980s when women religious dealt with diminished status, congregational Woidat, Caroline M. “Captivity, Freedom, and the renewal, and the exodus of many Sisters. In 1986, New World Convent: The Spiritual Autobiography although she would retain always a deep affection of Marie de L’Incarnation Guyart,” Legacy 25, no. for the Sisters of Charity, Marianna made the 1 (2008): 1-22. difficult decision to separate from her community and renew her life as a non-consecrated member of the laity. In the years following her convent life, Obituaries Marianna built on the research that she had begun while she was a Sister. An awareness of Irish Quebec history was nurtured in her family home as Marianna O’Gallagher, 1929 – 2010 Jeremiah O’Gallagher, her Irish immigrant grandfather, had designed, and was instrumental On a warm, breezy day in late August in the erection of the Celtic Cross on Grosse Île in 2002, Marianna O’Gallagher escorted a small 1909. Marianna’s first visit to the Island in 1973 group of visitors around Grosse Île. Leading her launched a passion that resulted in Grosse Île companions into one of the bleak hospital eventually being declared a historic site in 1984, buildings, she urged, “look up at the wooden and a National Historic Site in 1988. ceiling,” adding “it was the last sight for many of In 1981 Marianna founded the bilingual our Irish people before they died.” A pithy publishing house Carraig Books. She also wrote observation from a historian who spent much of two books: Grosse Île: Gateway to Canada 1832- her life documenting and publicizing the history 1937 [1981] and, with Rose Masson Dompierre, of Grosse Île, uncovering the Irish experience in Eyewitness, Grosse Île 1847 [1995]. Quebec, and all the while underscoring the role of Active in many associations, among them, Irish Quebecers as “a minority within a minority.” the Canadian Association for Irish Studies [CAIS], Marianna O’Gallagher was born in 1929 in and the Canadian Catholic Historical Association Sainte-Foy, Quebec, the daughter of Norma O’Neil [CCHA], Marianna was president of the CCHA in and Dermot O’Gallagher, a former Sainte-Foy the early 1980s and received the association’s mayor. As a young woman she entered the Sisters George Clerk Award in 1999. of Charity, Halifax, in 1949, trained as a teacher, Among Marianna’s legacies to Irish Quebec eventually earned a BA from Mount St Vincent history the most prominent is the creation of the University and later an MA in history from the Grosse Île and Irish Memorial National Historic Site University of Ottawa. While she was a Sister, … where on a summer’s day in 2002, the year she Marianna was missioned to her community’s was named to the Order of Canada, Marianna schools in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, O’Gallagher captured in a few graced phrases the Massachusetts and New York. She spent 25 years pathos of mid nineteenth century Irish at St Patrick’s High School in Quebec City. immigration to Quebec and to Canada. Marianna’s life within the Sisters of Charity Elizabeth W. McGahan, University of New unfolded during all dimensions of the Vatican II Brunswick – Saint John Campus era: the 1950s, when pre Vatican II directions for 7 Fall 2010 ISSN 1182-9214 Vol. XXIV, Number 2

The Canadian Catholic Historical Association would like to acknowledge the generous support of the Jackman Foundation of Toronto, SSHRC, and our personal benefactors of 2010: Archbishop Alphonsus Penny, Bishop John Corriveau * * * * * OFM Cap, Terence Fay SJ, Rev. Paul Gemmiti, Edward Jackman OP, Rev. Phillip Kennedy, Rev. Brian Price, Rev. Daniel Ryan, Sisters of Charity of the Immaculate Conception, Saint John, Jeanne Beck, Robert Bérard, Clifford Blank, Patricia Brady, Roy Dowling, Christine Lei, Heidi MacDonald, Fred J. McEvoy, Elizabeth Mr. Leopold Seguin, 1932-2010 McGahan, Kenneth Monro, Patricia Roy, Margaret Sanche, and Glenn Wright.

Leopold Seguin was long-term member of the CCHA and a teacher at St Albert School, Cornwall. The Bulletin is published in the Spring and the He was formerly a teacher of Collège Sacré-Coeur Fall of each year by the Canadian Catholic in Timmins and Member of L'Association des Historical Association. Notices, letters, calls for papers, and short articles are welcome on topics Enseignants Franco-Ontariens and of the Social of interest to historians. Deadlines for Science Committee of the Ontario Teachers' submission are 15 October and 15 March. See Federation. CCHA site www.umanitoba.ca/colleges/st_pauls/ccha

Annual Conference 2010 ...... 1 Notices ...... 3 Book Reviews ...... 4 Current Publications ...... 5 Obituaries ...... 6

Editors: Terry Fay SJ, Fred J. McEvoy (Book Reviews), Charles Principe CSB, Kevin Kirley CSB: History Office 508, 10 St Mary Street, Toronto ON M4Y 1P9: Tel 416 968-3683; Fax 416 975- 1588; E-mail: [email protected]. 8 Fall 2010 ISSN 1182-9214 Vol. XXIV, Number 2

Canadian Catholic Historical Association 81 St Mary Street, Toronto ON M4T 1W 2

Membership Inquiry: 905 893-9754 Valerie Burke, CCHA Office [email protected]

2008-2010 Executive President-General: Dr Peter Meehan Seneca College, York University [email protected]

President: Dr Jacqueline Gresko Corpus Christi College UBC [email protected]

Vice-President: Dr Edward MacDonald U. of Prince Edward Island The newly elected president of the CCHA, [email protected] Dr Jacqueline Gresko

Sec.-General: Dr Edward Jackman OP [email protected]

Secretary: Robert Dennis Queen’s University [email protected]

Treasurer: Dr Terry Fay SJ, UT [email protected]

Editors of Historical Studies: Dr Elizabeth McGahan, UNB [email protected] Dr Indre Cuplinskas UA [email protected]

Editors of the CCHA Bulletin: Dr Terry Fay SJ, Fred J. McEvoy (Book Reviews), Dr Charles Principe, CSB, Kevin Kirley, CSB New CCHA Vice-President, Dr Edward MacDonald of UPEI, Président, SCHEC (French): Dr René Hardy and retiring President-General Dr Heidi MacDonald of Special Repositories for Canadian Catholic History: Lethbridge University. Anglin Collection of Canadian Catholic History St Thomas More College Saskatoon SK, S7N 0W 6 Research Centre in Religious History in Canada: St Paul University, Ottawa, K1S 1C4